GREAT ^mTLK—Urtica dioica. 



Class MoNCECiA. Order Tetrandria. Nat. Orel. Urtice^. 

 _Nettle Tribe. 



This well-known plant of our every wayside 

 has, at some period or other, inflicted a wound 

 on almost all who have sought for wild flowers. 

 Its green blossoms, tinged sometimes with pur- 

 ]Dlish-red, hang in clusters upon its dark fur- 

 rowed stem in July and August. The leaves 

 are beset with numerous hairs, each with so 

 fine a point that it can easily penetrate the 

 skin, and being in itself a tube, which conveys 

 poison from a httle gland at the base. This 

 species is, however, less virulent than the rare 

 Roman Nettle, {Urtica pilidifera,) which grows 

 about walls, especially near the sea, and which 

 leaves a much greater irritation after the touch. 

 The sting of our native species is, ho^xver, 

 far outdone by those of hotter climes. Thus 

 a nettle of India, {Urtica crenidata^ though 

 touched ever so slightly, causes inflammation 

 in the finger, which gradually extends itself 

 to all the limbs, and causes intense sufl'ering 

 for several days \ while the celebrated nettle 

 of Timor, called by the natives Daouusetan, 



